West Michigan residents to participate in Lansing rally against driver's license denials for young illegal immigrants

Yohaira Montesinos, 21, protests the Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson's decision to deny young illegal immigrants the ability to obtain a driver's license, as cars drive by honking in support at Roger's Plaza on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, in Grand Rapids, Mich. Montesinos and her family immigrated to the United States in 1996 from Mexico. (The Grand Rapids Press, Matthew Busch )

GRAND RAPIDS,MI -- About 80 people from the Grand Rapids area will travel to Lansing on Friday, Nov. 9 to protest Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s decision to deny driver's licenses to young illegal immigrants who have been granted deportation deferrals.

The group will depart from Rogers Plaza at 10:30 a.m. and the protest outside the state Capitol is scheduled to start at noon.

The Grand Rapids group will join protesters from Wayne State University, Southwest Detroit, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor.

The protesters also claim that on Oct. 17, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Detroit arrested Hector Orozco, from Mexico, while he dropped off his children outside of one of the local schools. They allege ICE violated their policies. Khaalid Walls, spokesperson from ICE, said in a statement “the arrest of a priority target yesterday in the Detroit metro area adhered to, and was in full compliance of, the stated policies and procedures of the agency.”

“He was previously deported and had a DUI,” said Walls.

Luz Calvo, organizer of the Grand Rapids group, said she has rented three trucks and the seats in two of them are already spoken for.

“I asked local Hispanic businesses for donations so that we can rent the trucks and people would be able to go for free and I was able to raise $735, enough for three trucks and we have a bit left over that we will use to provide pizza and juice for the protesters tomorrow,” she said.